नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

-XXXIV. 76 ] TYPES OF CHARACTERS 585

The Varṣadharas

71. Those women who have poor vitality and the eunuchs who have the nature of women and are voiceless from birth are known as Varṣadharas (sub-men)¹.

The Nirmuṇḍas

72. Those eunuchs who look like males and have nothing feminine in their nature and have no knowledge of sexual acts are called Nirmuṇḍas¹.

The Kañcukins

73-74. Those who have learning, truthfulness, are free from the sexual passion, and have deep knowledge and wisdom, are known as the Kañcukins. [When they are] Brahmins by birth, clever, old and free from sexual passion, kings are always to employ them to look after the needs of the queens¹.

75. These are the eighteen classes of inmates of the [king's] harem. I shall now speak of persons who move about in public.

External persons

76-77. They are : the king (rājan), the leader of the army (senāpati), the chaplain (purodhas), the ministers (mantrin)¹, councillors (saciva), judges (prāḍvivāka) and the wardens of princes (kumārādhikṛta)² and many other members of the king's court

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71 (C.64b-65; K.XXIV.56). ¹ The reading is corrupt.
72 (K.XXIV.57). ¹ K. omits this.
73-74 (C.65b-66a; K.XXIV.58). ¹ Though the later writers have opined that the Kañcukin should be a Brahmin, the author of the NŚ. did not recognize any such rule. Bhāsa too seems to follow him. In Dūtavā (I. 5, 9) the Kañcukīya falls at the feet of Duryodhana. So we may infer that the Kañc. was not a Brahmin who could not degrade himself by falling at the feet of a Kṣatriya. For later def. of the Kañc. see NŚ. XIII.112-113 notes. ² C. omits 73 and K., 74.
75 (C.66b-67a; K.XXIV.59).
76-77 (C 67b-69a; K.XXIV.60-61). ¹ AS. (I 8 and 9) distinguishes between amātya and mantrin. Kāmandakīya Nītisāra (VIII. 1) also does the same; according this later authority amātya seems to be identical with saciva; see IV. 25, 30, 31. According to Śukranīti saciva, mantrin and amātya are three diff. functionaries. See II. 94, 95, 103.
² Read kumārādhikṛtās tathā for kumārākṛtās tathā. K.